Experts: UC should permanently drop standardized tests for admissions

LOS ANGELES — Now that the University of California is permanently phasing out the SAT, will another standardized test take its place as an admissions requirement? The answer is no, if two expert panels have their way.

The UC Board of Regents unanimously voted last year to eliminate the SAT and ACT — as more than 1,000 other universities have done — amid decades of research showing test performance is heavily influenced by race, income and parent education levels.

But the regents accepted a faculty recommendation to explore whether a new UC test without those biases could be developed, saying it would have to be ready in time for fall 2025 applicants.

The UC panels, in their reports released Monday, said it was not feasible for UC to develop its own test because it would take too long and recommended that the university instead explore using a modified version of the state’s high school assessment test — but only as an optional “data point” in comprehensive applicant reviews.

The report comes as UC applications hit an all-time high this admissions season, drawing record numbers of Black and Latino students who expressed confidence submitting applications without SAT and ACT scores.

The group of UC faculty, admissions directors, testing experts and other educational and community representatives focused on whether Smarter Balanced, the California assessment given annually to 11th graders, could be retooled for UC use. Any use of a modified state test, however, should be optional and limited so as not to create the inequities and highstakes pressures associated with the SAT and ACT, according to the recommendation to UC President Michael V. Drake from a second panel.

Regents will consider the issue at their three-day virtual meeting next week.

Smarter Balanced has several advantages, the work group found. Research has shown that the state test is about as effective in predicting college success as the SAT and ACT, although it remained unclear whether it is less biased. The test is given free to public school students and assesses how well they’ve mastered what California educators have determined they should know, including not only academic content but also higher-order thinking and the kind of problem-solving skills required in college.

Using the state test could better align UC with the K12 system, leading to better educational preparation for university work, the work group found.

Smarter Balanced “may provide a tool that affords more students from diverse backgrounds important opportunities to show what they know and can do,” concluded experts from a separate steering committee that reviewed the work group’s report.

But members from both groups also expressed concerns about racial and ethnic disparities in state test results. For instance, about 70% of students classified as Asian meet or exceed the 11th grade standard for math compared with 45% of whites and 20% of Black and Latino students, the work group said.

“There are clear educational inequities — e.g., resources, quality of teaching — across schools,” the report said. “Adequate funding and attention to ongoing forms of oppression in vulnerable communities will be required.”